The present invention relates to a dispenser for a roll of material, and particularly to a sanitary dispenser that automatically cuts and dispenses a measured amount of material upon a user grasping and pulling the tail end of the web.
A number of dispensing devices are well known in the art for dispensing and cutting webs of roll material, including paper toweling, paper products, and the like. In such dispensers, the processes of dispensing and cutting the web material are carried out automatically by pulling on the free or xe2x80x9ctailxe2x80x9d end of the web material that extends from the apparatus. The web material is engaged against a xe2x80x9croughxe2x80x9d or friction enhancing surface of a feed drum and the action of pulling the web material causes the drum to rotate. The drum includes a drive mechanism and, after the initial pull on the web material by the user, the drum is driven a predetermined rotational degree to dispense a metered amount of the web material. The drum is equipped with a cutting tool, such as a bar, blade, or the like, which extends from a retracted position within the drum to an extended position once the drum reaches a predetermined rotational position to affect a cutting of the web material. Dispensing devices of this type are described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,213,363; 4,635,837; 4,621,755; 4,846,035; and 4,122,738.
The dispensers described in the patents cited above are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9csanitaryxe2x80x9d dispensers because the user does not manually operate any portion of the drive or cutting mechanism. The user only touches the tail end of the web material that is dispensed and cut for that particular user.
A number of these conventional dispensers also incorporate an additional xe2x80x9cstubxe2x80x9d roll feature. When the primary roll of web material becomes depleted to a certain extent, it can be placed on a stub roll carrier so that a new primary roll may be loaded into the dispenser. The web material from the stub roll is then fed through the dispensing device with the web material from the primary roll and the two web materials are simultaneously dispensed until the stub roll is completely depleted. Thus, the user obtains two metered sheets or lengths of the web material until the stub roll is depleted. The stub rolls are thus utilized in their entirety and the user need not consecutively activate the dispenser to obtain additional sheets of web material. Dispensers of this type are well known in the art. Examples of such dispensers include a line of xe2x80x9cNo Touchxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cHands Freexe2x80x9d sanitary dispensers from Kimberly Clark Corporation referred to as SaniTouch(copyright) dispensers, the xe2x80x9cNo Touchxe2x80x9d dispensers, and the xe2x80x9cHands-Freexe2x80x9d dispensers. These commercial dispensers are well known and understood by those skilled in the art.
With the conventional dispensers, the stub roll carrier feature results in a relatively large housing that covers the internal components of the apparatus, particularly towards the bottom dispensing end. It has been the common practice to mount the stub roll carrier generally below and in front of the rotatable drum. The overall housing thus has a relatively xe2x80x9cdeepxe2x80x9d cross sectional profile, particularly when the backside of the housing is mounted flush on a wall or other support member. The dispensing slot or opening is typically defined in the bottom and more towards the back of the housing. This is problematic in certain situations because a direct line of sight to the tail end of the web material extending out of the dispensing slot is blocked by the protruding front surface of the housing. This may result in dispensing defects with the conventional dispensers as users fail to grasp an appropriate area of the towel to successfully execute a dispense cycle due to lack of visual contact with the towel or web tail.
The present invention relates to an improvement in the conventional dispensers utilizing a stub roll carrier to reduce the number of dispensing defects.
Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the following description, or may be learned from the description or through practice of the invention.
The present invention includes an apparatus for automatically dispensing and cutting measured amounts of material from a web of roll material. The invention utilizes the xe2x80x9csanitaryxe2x80x9d dispensing and cutting mechanisms of the conventional devices discussed in the BACKGROUND SECTION.
The apparatus includes a housing in which the internal components of the apparatus are disposed. A roll carrier is disposed within the housing to rotationally carry a primary or first web of roll material to be dispensed from the apparatus. The roll carrier defines a first axis of rotation for the first web of roll material. A rotatable feed drum is disposed within the housing proximate to the roll carrier. The roll carrier is biased towards the rotatable drum so that a roll of web material carried by the roll carrier is urged towards the drum. In this way, the web material is frictionally engaged against the drum so as to rotate the drum upon the xe2x80x9ctailxe2x80x9d or free end of the web material being pulled from the housing.
A cutting device extends longitudinally along and is operably disposed at least partially within the rotatable drum. This cutting device is configured to automatically extend from a retracted position within the drum to a cutting position beyond the drum upon the drum being rotated a constant predetermined amount by pulling the free end of the web material.
A stub roll carrier is disposed within the housing to rotationally carry a partially depleted second web of roll material. The second web of material is dispensed with the first web until the second web is exhausted. The stub roll carrier defines a second axis of rotation that is behind a vertical plane through the first axis of rotation with respect to a front side of the housing. In this way, the stub roll carrier is mounted within the housing behind the roll carrier for the primary web material and thus does not unnecessarily add to the depth of the apparatus with respect to a wall or other support frame upon which the apparatus is mounted.
In one embodiment, the stub roll carrier is mounted within the housing so that the second axis of rotation is above the first axis of rotation. To further reduce the depth or profile of the apparatus from the support wall, the housing may be configured for mounting at least partially within a recess defined in the wall. In this embodiment, the housing has a front portion that is exposed to view and a recess back portion that is recessed within the wall when the housing is mounted. In this embodiment, the stub roll carrier may be mounted at least partially within the back portion so that it does not contribute at all to the depth of the front portion. The front portion and back portion may be defined by a flange section that positions or mounts the front portion on the wall around the circumference of the recess.
Due to the beneficial positioning of the stub roll carrier, the housing may have a front surface having a forwardmost protruding section that is disposed proximate to the primary roll carrier. This forwardmost protruding section need only be sufficient enough to accommodate the diameter of the primary web of roll material. The front surface tapers rearwardly from the forwardmost protruding section towards a dispensing slot defined in the housing. In this manner, an unobstructed line of sight is provided for the user at an eye level about at the same height as the protruding section to the tail of the web material that extends from the dispensing slot. The user need not bend over or look under the housing in order to locate and grasp the tail end of the web material.
In order to further reduce the depth of the housing, the roll carrier and drum may be mounted on a frame member that is in turn mounted within the housing at an angle such that the roll carrier is tilted rearward and the drum is moved forward with respect to a vertical plane through the housing. This embodiment is particularly suited for the recessed wall configuration in that the roll carrier can thus be moved at least partially into the back portion of the housing. Thus, the forwardmost projection of the housing can be further reduced since the first roll of web material is moved at least partially into the back portion of the housing that resides within the wall recess.
The invention will be explained in greater detail below through use of the appended Figures.